Federal Prospects Hockey League
| motto = | inaugural = 2010-11 | teams = 6 | country = | champion = Danbury Whalers (1st title) | Commissioner = Don Kirnan | website = www.thefhl.net }} The Federal Hockey League (FHL) is a professional ice hockey league with teams in the Northeastern United States. The FHL began operations in November 2010. Don Kirnan serves as the league's first commissioner. The league has a salary cap of $5,050 per week. The roster is limited to 20 players for the first 6 games and 17 thereafter. During the 2010–11 season, the Broome County Barons relocated their operations to Cape Cod due to lack of fan support, and Rome Frenzy suspended operations mid-season. The Federal Hockey League has announced a press conference set for May 30th at 2pm at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio about a new franchise. Hara Arena is the former home of the Dayton Gems of the Central Hockey League. In February 2011, the FHL announced for the 2011–12 season they would add new teams in northern Vermont and Illinois. The Green Mountain Rock Crushers (later changed their name to the Vermont Wild) played at theGreen Mountain Arena in Morrisville, Vermont, and the Danville Dashers will play at David S. Palmer Arena in Danville, Illinois. In May 2011, the FHL announced an expansion team to Wayne, New Jersey, called the New Jersey Outlaws. In December 2011 the FHL announced the Delaware Federals would replace the Vermont Wild. They played their first game on December 16, 2011 against Cape Cod. In May 2012 it was announced that the Brooklyn Aviators were ceasing operations and that an expansion team was being added in Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Demonz will play at the Hara Arena starting in the 2012-13 season. The Dayton Expansion Draft and the Brooklyn Player Dispersal Draft were both held on June 15. Dayton Expansion Draft The Thousand Islands Privateers would change their name to the Watertown Privateers after having relocated the season prior from Alexandria Bay, New York. In July 2012 it was announced that the defending champion New Jersey Outlaws were relocating to Williamsport, PA, for the 2012-13 season. Outlaws ride into Williamsport PA Rather than playing in a traditional ice arena, they played outside on a portable ice rink at Bowman Field, home to the minor league baseball team the Williamsport Crosscutters.Professional hockey coming to Williamsport's Bowman Field This venture was unsuccesful as the team folded on January 21, 2013 only to be resurrected by the league as a travel team that will play four road games. The Cape Cod Bluefins had cancelled several games during December, and finally suspended operations on December 12, 2012. The league created a temporary fill in team called the "Blues" to fill in the dates and then relocated the franchise to Central New York where they became a road team. The league played two neutral site games during the 2013-14 season in Winston-Salem, NC and Connellsvile, PA. On April 11, 2014 the league issued a press release announcing a new team in Western Pennsylvania. The league had indicated on its' website that it was planning on adding a second expansion team for the 2014-15 season. originally Connellsville was mentioned for the site of the expansion team, but the Port Huron Fighting Falcons of the North American Hockey League announced they were relocating to Connellsville for the 2014-15 season. The league later announced that they were placing an expansion team in the town of Belle Vernon that will be known as the Southwest Pennsylvania Magic. The Watertown Privateers folded after the 2013-14 season after being unable to locate new local ownership. A new franchise was awarded to local ownership for the 2014-15 season. The new ownership did not want to inherit the team's debt. The ownership chose the name Watertown Wolves on August 8, 2014 On July 14, 2014, the league announced an expansion team for the 2014-15 season to be based out of the Notre Dame Arena in Berlin, New Hampshire. The league was setting up a LLC to own and manage the team until local ownership could be found. This franchise ended up moving to North Adams, Massachusetts and were named the Berkshire Battalion. North Adams was originally supposed to have a franchise in the North Atlantic Professional Hockey League, which was supposed to start with the 2014-15 season, but the league pushed back the start up to 2015-16 to allow for more stable ownership groups. The ownership of the North Adams Black Bears which were supposed to play in the NAPHL tried to gain entry into the FHL for the 2014-15 season but were denied due to the FHL's concern over the financial stability of this team. Teams Current The league has six teams based in Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Ohio. }} Year-by-year Timeline DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:1400 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:01/01/2010 till:07/01/2015 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.95,0.5,0.4) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:skyblue from:07/01/2010 till:07/01/2012 text:Akwesasne Warriors (2010–2012) bar:2 color:skyblue from:07/01/2010 till:12/17/2010 text:Broome County Barons (2010) bar:2 color:skyblue from:01/18/2011 till:12/16/2012 shift:(15) text:Cape Cod Barons/Cape Cod Bluefins (2011-2012) bar:2 color:skyblue from:12/17/2012 till:02/03/2013 text:New York Bluefins (2012-2013) bar:3 color:powderblue from:07/01/2010 till:end text:Danbury Whalers (2010–present) bar:4 color:skyblue from:07/01/2010 till:07/01/2012 text:New York Aviators/Brooklyn Aviators (2010–2012) bar:5 color:skyblue from:07/01/2010 till:02/01/2011 text:Rome Frenzy (2010–2011) bar:6 color:skyblue from:07/01/2010 till:07/01/2013 text:Thousand Islands Privateers (2010–2013) bar:6 color:skyblue from:07/01/2013 till:07/01/2014 text:Watertown Privateers (2013-2014) bar:7 color:powderblue from:07/01/2011 till:end text:Danville Dashers (2011–present) bar:8 color:skyblue from:07/01/2011 till:11/25/2011 shift:(-145) text:Green Mountain Rock Crushers/Vermont Wild (2011) bar:8 color:skyblue from:12/16/2011 till:07/01/2012 text:Delaware Federals (2011-2012) bar:9 color:skyblue from:07/01/2011 till:07/01/2012 text:New Jersey Outlaws (2011–2012) bar:9 color:skyblue from:07/01/2012 till:02/18/2013 text:Williamsport Outlaws/Pennsylvania Outlaws/Pennsylvania Blues (2012–2013) bar:10 color:powderblue from:07/01/2012 till:end text:Dayton Demonz (2012-present) bar:11 color:powderblue from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Berkshire Battalion (2014-present) bar:12 color:powderblue from:07/01/2014 till:end text:SWPA Magic (2014-present) bar:13 color:powderblue from:07/01/2014 till:end text:Watertown Wolves (2014-present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2010 League champions *2010–11 – Akwesasne Warriors *2011–12 – New Jersey Outlaws *2012-13 - Danbury Whalers *2013-14 - Dayton Demons References External links *Official FHL website Category:Federal Hockey League Category:Ice hockey leagues Category:Ice hockey leagues in Canada Category:Minor league hockey